Lady Wolves Second Half Explosion Leads to Win

WESSON – The Co-Lin Women's Basketball team returned to conference action by playing host to Coahoma on Thursday, February 22. The Lady Wolves used a huge second half outscoring the Lady Tigers, 44-25, to earn a come-from-behind win, 77-65, against the Lady Tigers.

"I am very proud of our team's tenacity in this win," said Co-Lin head coach Dr. Britta Stephens. "In the first half, we didn't do a great job of guarding the ball, but in the second half we made some adjustments and did a much better job. A huge third quarter run gave us the spark we needed to get a huge conference win."

The Lady Wolves got off to a bit of a slow start as the Lady Tigers used a 5-0 run to hold the lead at that margin with 6:45 left in the first quarter. However, the Lady Wolves responded with a 12-5 run to tie the game at 12-12 with 3:08 to play. Both teams then matched scoring totals with six points in the final minutes of play to end the first half tied at 18-18.

The Lady Tigers then used a 9-7 scoring to take a 27-25 lead over the Lady Wolves with 7:17 left in the second quarter. The Lady Tigers then used a 7-6 run to extend their lead to 34-31 with 3:20 remaining. The Lady Tigers finished the first half with 6-2 scoring run to hold a 40-33 lead over the Lady Wolves as the teams entered the locker rooms at halftime.

The Lady Wolves then came out in the third quarter and opened with a 7-4 run to cut the Lady Tigers lead down to 44-40 with eight minutes of play left. The Lady Wolves continued to flex their muscles and used an 8-4 run to tie the game at 48-48 with 3:13 remaining. The Lady Wolves then ended the quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 55-48 lead into the final quarter of play.

The Lady Wolves carried the momentum over into the fourth quarter opening with an 8-2 run to expand their lead to 63-50 with 7:13 left to play. The Lady Wolves continued to hold off the late comeback attempts by the Lady Tigers as they went on a 10-6 scoring run making their lead 73-56 with 3:35 remaining in the game. The Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Wolves, 9-4, the final stretch, but the lead was never cut down to single digits as the Lady Wolves secured the 77-65 victory.

"I was extremely proud of how unselfishly we played in this game," stated Stephens. "Our bench energy was incredible! This team is still growing and getting better every game and that is exciting to watch and be a part of."

The Lady Wolves had three players in double-digit scoring as Angel Wilkinson (Brookhaven) led the way with 16 points along with three assists, two rebounds, and two steals while Kayla Howard (Shaw) narrowly missed a double-double with 14 points and nine assists with six rebounds and one steal. Jamea Smith (Jackson) added 10 points with six rebounds and shared the team lead in blocks with three.

"Jamea Smith was huge for us both offensively and defensively while Myla Harbor had a very good night shooting the ball," added Stephens. "As always, Kayla Howard was our floor general and she contributed some big time buckets for us in this win."

A'Shante Fleming (Canton) and Ceara Myers (Baton Rouge) both also flirted with double-double performances as Fleming had nine points with seven rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block while Myers had eight points and eight rebounds with one assist and shared the team lead in blocks with three. Myla Harbor (Farriday, LA) also had eight points on the night with three rebounds while Lashaunte Payne (Magee) had six points with six rebounds. Sequoia Bouldin (Hattiesburg) had four points and Alexanjria Washington (Canton) had two points to round out the scoring for the Lady Wolves.

Co-Lin is now 12-10 overall, 4-6 in conference play, and will hit the road to face off against East Central on Monday, February 26. Tip-off between the Lady Wolves and Lady Warriors is set for 5:30 p.m., at Brackeen-Wood Gymnasium in Decatur.